Hot Dish 8.30.24

By Rochelle Olson

I don’t need to tell you it’s the Friday before Labor Day. Is there a pair of months that screeches through a sharper turn than August into September? Hard to beat Dec. 31 into Jan. 1, but that’s a timestamp rather than this weekend’s hard pivot like this one that we feel in our bones. It’s still August for two more days so let’s milk this month like it’s the all-you-can-drink stand at the State Fair (Still going through Monday).

I myself have not attended the fair due to acquiring COVID in Chicago. You know who else hasn’t attended the fair? Gov. Tim Walz. Even under his rebranded persona of Coach Walz he’s not alighted in Falcon Heights. If he doesn’t go to the State Fair is he still legally Minnesota’s governor?

Walz has not met with Minnesota media since Aug. 1 when he talked about a new law for straw purchasers of guns. I’ve been encouraged by an outside agitator to commence a ticker. We’re at 29 days without a Walz press avail in Minnesota. We also didn’t get to talk to him in Chicago or even get close to him beyond his appearance at breakfast on the final day.

So we get to see him on TV and there he was on CNN with Vice President Kamala Harris for their first team interview. He did a lot of No. 2 type stuff, ya know, nodding, smiling and gazing approvingly. He was also pressed on past statements about his military service, guns and IVF. Star Tribune colleague Elliott Hughes wrote about it whilst covering another storm and power outage impacting the fair and others.

Walz’s answers weren’t revelatory. He says he owns his mistakes. He’s proud of his military service and won’t disparage others. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. CNN also played the 2018 clip when Walz talked about weapons of war, which sounded like a crime against syntax. On a related note, now Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is facing scrutiny over a past claim about a Bronze Star.

The CNN talking heads gave the Harris-Walz interview general thumbs up and noted that VP candidates often stumble at the start as they’re less experienced than their running mates. (Ohio Sen. JD Vance had a bumpy first couple of weeks as Trump’s ticketmate.) The national spotlight brings an entirely new level of scrutiny — in case that wasn’t yet apparent.

ABORTION & IVF: Former President Donald Trump said Thursday he’ll likely vote against the six-week abortion ban on the ballot in his state of residence, Florida. He also said the government or insurance will be required to pay for IVF treatments if he’s re-elected.

Trump late Thursday also asked the federal court to take over his election interference/hush money case in another attempt to delay sentencing. Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery continues to be a plot point in the presidential race. A defense official says he was warned against taking photographs but did so anyway.

Meanwhile, the Democrats announced a 50-stop Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour in battleground states, beginning Tuesday in Palm Beach, where Trump lives now. Leading the way will be Minnesota’s own U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar. The Democrats noted in their press release that Trump brags about being the one who got Roe v. Wade overturned.

Interesting that Klobuchar commences her pivot to the fall in Florida with the bus when she’s on the ballot in Minnesota. This suggests the three-term senator isn’t terribly worried about GOP opponent Royce White. Also, she’s being a team player, collecting brownie points. Don’t think that’s going unnoticed.

BALLOT BOX: Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will remain on the ballot in Minnesota, Bierschbach reports. For minor party candidates who successfully petition for ballot access, there is no mechanism for withdrawal other than a petition to the courts, which Kennedy hasn’t done here. In another sign of something — Kennedy’s supporting Trump and trying to get his name removed in 10 key swing states. Minnesota, which hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate in more than 50 years, isn’t among them.

BELTWAY-MIDWAY: Our D.C. correspondent Sydney Kashiwagi talked to fairgoers and a swath of candidates over the past week. She reports on the hot-selling DFL merch, “Never Walz” and the push by other candidates for name recognition. Minnesota Republican Party Executive Director Anna Mathews said she’s selling lots of Trump shirts and has seen a lot of young voters registering and requesting absentee ballots. “A lot of people are just embarrassed that Tim Walz is on the ticket,” Mathews said. “They don’t want him to be the representation of Minnesota.”

WHERE’S WALZ:

Not here. He’s been down in Georgia with Harris then Thursday he was grabbing a mint chocolate chip shake at Cook Out, a southern chain, with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. It’s all over Twitter if you want to see the two men eating ice cream. (Walz later told attendees at a Raleigh fund-raiser that he “ate the whole damn thing.”)

The two also stopped at a basement campaign officer where some 30 staffers were phone-banking for candidates. Walz brought cookies with icing that read, “Yes She Can.”

At one point, Walz asked a phone banker if she wanted him to sub in for her, took her phone and had a brief conversation with the voter on the other end. “You’re kind, thank you very much,” he told the person as the call ended.

Walz bragged. “If you lose an election, you shake hands and congratulate the person who won,” he said. “That’s easy for me to say — I have not lost one before. And I want to keep it that way!”

READING LIST

Keep us posted at hotdish@startribune.com.